(bright music) - Well, in the beginning, in the 1800s, the late 1800s, after the two channels were cut in Charlevoix to allow access from Lake Michigan to Lake Charlevoix, the people around here realized that they had to have a connecting point for industry and commerce, and that is because Lake Charlevoix is split into two parts, the larger northern section, what is called the South Arm that goes south of Charlevoix to East Jordan.

So the only way to do this was to go across what is called the Ironton Narrows, which is about five miles south of Charlevoix, and that is what the crux of the whole matter was, to get people down there and then they could go across and go wherever they wanted.

But until that was done, it was very difficult.

- [Reporter] Industrious individuals had devised ways to navigate the narrows.

But the first instance of a ferry crossing happens just over a decade after the US Civil War came to an end.

- The first record we have of a ferry going across there was 1876.

It was a rowboat, 5 cents a head.

And then in 1879, 3 years later, along comes the big iron smelter in Ironton, which gave the town its name, and they are bringing in a huge amount of goods, et cetera, materials, building supplies, animals that have to be accommodated, and they have to have people from the other side of the shore coming over to help build.

So then, another boat was put into its place, and that substitute boat was done by a man by the name of Arden Sheldon, and that is what really started the idea of a ferry, because once the Ironton smelter was in place, then that was a daily thing for people to come over, especially the workmen to have to come across and not roll across themselves.

When you got on the ferry as a passenger, there was a thing called a cog wheel on the top that turned the gears, that pulled the ropes, and you, as a passenger, had to take this metal and (indistinct) thing and put it into the cog wheel and turn it yourself to get you across.

So, I think if you had that today, if any passengers were required to pull themselves off, you'd have a revolution down there in Ironton.

And of course, as the region grew, so did the Ironton Ferry, and it became an absolute necessity after a while.

- [Reporter] The ferry, as it's known today, was built shortly before the start of the Great Depression.

But there is some debate on the total cost of construction.

- Well, we have two sources in how much it costs to begin with.

One source says $12,000, the other source says $24,000, unless we find something that really knocks it on the head, but I'm gonna go with the $12,000, because this was back in 1926.

- [Reporter] Now Captain Kirk famously helmed the deck of the Starship Enterprise.

Captain Hook was the swashbuckling antagonist of Peter Pan.

And well, Steve Yzerman, he might be the most famous captain in our state, but captains of the Ironton Ferry have also found themselves in the spotlight.

- They've had a lot of captains, but the one who was most famous is Sam Alexander, and he started in 1890, and he lasted 51 years.

And in 1936, he was featured in Ripley's Believe It or Not, which at that time was really a big deal in the newspapers.

And it said in there that he traveled no farther than a thousand feet from his own house, because he lived down next to the ferry, and he had traveled the equivalent of the circumference of the earth.

(ferry motor humming) - [Reporter] The Ironton Ferry moves by cables that are between 20 to 40 feet below the water.

It takes about three minutes to cross the Narrows, and you'll travel just over 600 feet on a one way trip.

But that's plenty of time to create lasting memories on this iconic, innovative, and invaluable piece of Michigan history.

- If you don't ride the Ironton Ferry on a visit to Charlevoix, you have not really completed your Charlevoix trip, just to brag to people of the fact that you have done so.

It is just something that you will remember your whole life.

I've had people, house guests of my own, who have been coming for years, and they talk about how many years ago they remembered going across the Ironton Ferry, telling people what they did and having those people come up here to do exactly the same thing.

So, put it on your bucket list, put it on your to-do list, and you can tell everybody you know that you crossed the Ironton Narrows on the Ironton Ferry.